Celebrate

Celebrating the nation’s naval history is a natural extension of our promoting and preserving objectives and one of three core Naval Order missions. We celebrate the deeds of our naval services because we are a fraternal order. We also celebrate to support the objective outlined in our constitution that “it is well and fitting that the illustrious deeds of the great naval commanders, their companion officers in arms, and their subordinates in the wars of the United States should be forever honored and respected.” Through the establishment of annual events such as the Battle of Midway dinner or events that celebrate specific anniversaries such as the War of 1812 we endeavor to keep naval history alive through the generations, we have done so since 1890.

The Celebrate domain features the Battle of Midway Veteran Biographies from the San Francisco Battle of Midway Dining Out. A booklet will feature the Midway stories of those Veterans who were able to join the event over a span of almost twenty years, as well as a concise story of the Battle of Midway and the listing of the American and Japanese naval forces during the battle.

COL Jonathan Mendes, USMC (ret.) flew SBD Dive Bombers in the Pacific ( 100 missions) and Panther Jets in Korea (70 missions). He taught Ted Williams and John Glenn how to fly and has an amazing history both military and civilian. COL Mendes is the oldest person to ever complete the New York Marathon at age 96.

Gene Schindler started out Dec 7 1941 two days out of Manila where he had been kicked out of radio school for being awol. (Nearly ALL the radio students in class then at Manila later died or were executed by the Japanese). His entire Navy career he could never amass 4 years of good conduct - THUS his "RED" hashmarks instead of "gold". His first battles were with the Asiatic Fleet and the Java Sea in USS Paul Jones (a four piper can). This story picks up with the USS Gwin. Great story teller and a tremendous history. (look for 7 more clips with Schindler - the stories came "out of order in time". ) http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh.... Catch all the clips under the "veterans" collection at http://www.me3tv.org (youtube) See photos from the Asiatic Fleet Web Page links - http://www.usasiaticfleet.org

Only one of the 17 ships that split off convoy PQ17 made it to Murmansk through the ravaging U-Boat wolfpacks. It was mid 1942. The Soviets were our wary allies and they needed materiale support. There were many more ships in PQ17. Most were lost in the attacks. The British Fleet command pulled support off PQ17 to bottle up the German Battleships - Tirpitz and Prinz Eugen. This left the convoy "naked" and totally exposed to destruction in the cold and deadly Barents Sea. Ivo Duvall was there. His tiny corvette was virtually useless in defense of the merchant ships. Duvall's full hour long interview is on DVD and will be presented to the Library of Congress as part of the Veterans History Project. Duvall also participated in many Pacific battles. More about our efforts at www.me3tv.org. Search YOUTUBE for more on PQ17